The ‘Stanstead 15’, a group of protestors who were convicted after preventing a deportation flight from taking off from Stanstead Airport, had their convictions overturned today in the Court of Appeal. The group had been convicted under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990 of endangering safety at the airport by causing intentional disruption to its services, after they locked themselves together around a Boeing 767 jet in 2017.
The court ruled that the appellants should not have been prosecuted for the extremely serious offence under the 1990 Act because their conduct did not satisfy the elements of the offence: “There was, in truth, no case to answer”.
Clare Montgomery QC and Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh were involved in this case.